Creating a tabular view of record instances by using a record grid

A record grid is a built-in view component available in the View designer. The record grid component provides the following features:

• Displays the record instances in a tabular format on the user interface of the deployed application.

• Displays the fields of the associated record definition on the user interface of the deployed application.

• Enables users to sort the rows in a grid.

• Enables users to filter the values in the grid and display only the rows that match the filter condition.

• Enables users to filter rows by cell selection.

• Edit multiple records at a time.

• Switches to the card layout when the width of the grid is smaller than the configured card layout width.
  

• Download attachments if the record grid has a column bound to an attachment field. Download the attachment by clicking on the file name.

  Important

  You cannot download attachments from external records.

You can add a record grid while creating a view or while editing an existing view definition.

The following image shows a sample record grid in a browser:

Sample record grid using column layout:

Sample record grid using card layout:

To add a record grid to a view definition

1. Log in to BMC Helix Innovation Studio and navigate to the Workspace tab.
2. Select the application to which you want to add a record grid.
3. On the Views tab, click the name of the view definition to which you want to add a record grid.
4. From Palette, drag the Record Grid element to the canvas as you want it to appear on the user interface.

5. In Properties, click , and complete the fields in different sections as described in the following table:

   Field	Actions
   Mode	Select a mode in which you want the record definition to be displayed. If you select the Record mode, complete the following fields: Record Definition Name—Select a record definition that you want to display in the view definition. If you select the Association mode, complete the following fields: Record Definition to Show—Select a record definition that must be displayed in the view definition. Association to Use—Select an association (relationship) with the record definition. Associated Record ID—Specify the ID of the record that you associate. (Optional) Associated Role Name—Specify the role name of the record in an association. When you provide the role name, the view component displays the associated record instances that match the role name. Otherwise, the view component displays all the associated record instances. Important: The Associated Role Name field is displayed only when you select a many-to-many association in the Association to Use field.
   Enable Row Selection	Select the toggle key if you want to want to enable users to select single or multiple rows in the application user interface.
   Initial Sort Column	Specify the column with which the record instances will be sorted initially before the application is deployed. You can select the column and whether you want to sort the column in an ascending or descending order. By default, no column is selected. For example, if you select the Display ID column and set the sorting in ascending order, at runtime the records in the Display ID columns are sorted and will be displayed in ascending order.
   Add/Remove Grid Columns	Define the columns that will be displayed by default on the deployed application. You can add or remove the columns on the record grid by selecting the available fields from the record definitions and from the associated record definitions.
   Card Layout Width	Defines the width of the record grid view component at which the column layout switches to card layout.
   FILTERS	Select Enable Filtering to enable column filtering within the record on the application. Initial Filters provide the filters that are applied to the application at runtime to display only those record fields that match the filter condition. You can select one of the following options: Basic—You can select values from the list of available filters to create a filter condition. See also, Filter the record grid with partial strings  Expression—You can build an expression, such as the view component properties, keywords, view input parameters, or static values to create a filter condition.

6. Edit the column properties for the fields by using the edit option  on the fields. You can modify the following column properties: 

   Property	Description
   Column header	Specifies the header of the column. By default, the field name is displayed as the column header. If required, modify the column header.
   Visible by default	Displays the column on the view by default.
   Sorting enabled	Enables sorting of the column at runtime on the deployed application.
   Filtering enabled	Enables filtering of the columns at runtime on the deployed application.
   Make column value as action button	Configures the column value as an action button. To add an action, click Add/Remove Actions and add the actions. In the Add/Remove Actions window, select the actions according to your requirements. For multiple actions, you can set the execution order of the actions by placing actions in a sequence. You can configure one or more of the following actions: Open an URL or start a process Open a view Associate, dissociate, delete records Edit multiple records Set properties for the action button Save, cancel, or refresh the task Launch Process Designer

   You can also edit the properties for the fields by using the edit option on the fields. 

7. (Optional) You can add the action buttons to the record grid. To add an action button, drag the Action Button component on the record grid and enter the properties for the action button.
8. (Optional) You can build an expression, such as the view component properties, keywords, view input parameters, or static values. To build an expression, from the Initial Filters list, click Expression > Click to build an expression. From the list of available values, select the values that you require and then click OK. For more information, see Using the Expression Editor.
9. Save the view definition.
   To verify the record grid, preview the view definition.

Filter the record grid with partial strings 

You can use partial strings to filter records by using the new wild card character '%'. The following table shows you how to search for a partial string using the wild card character.

If you want to search for % and \ characters, you must escape them by using the \ (backslash) as shown in the table above. For more information, see To create the initial basic filters.

Example 1: To add associations to a record grid 

Example 2: To enable editing of multiple records in a record grid

Example 3: To create the initial basic filters

Example 4: To create the initial expression filters

Example 5: To configure the column value as an action button to open a new view

Where to go from here

 Defining filter presets to search records

Related topics

Creating or modifying view definitions

Creating layout with Containers